Posting daily at 1pm central about all kinds of things. One day it's dating, the next it's TV commercials. I hope you're entertained. Professional photos on SmugMug – https://benwilder.smugmug.com
I was saying hello to my niece’s dog– a dog that must be on crack with the level of energy she has– and was totally fine thinking to myself, “I like dogs but I must be getting old– this is too much!” I think I finally get what my grandparents meant when they told us to stop cutting up at the table.
Enter ChatGPT. I’ve never used it and I don’t plan on changing that streak anytime soon. In fact, prior to this post, I had no idea what GPT even meant (it means this). OpenAI is the creator of ChatGPT, which is becoming synonymous with AI– kind of like Kleenex is with tissue paper. In a recent commercial, a guy prepares a dish for a date and he definitely scored a second date, which is more than I can say for my dating experience in 2025. 🥴
The Song. It’s from 2014… a song called “Fool” by Perfume Genius. Here’s the full track.
Have you used ChatGPT yet? I’m a fan of artificial intelligence, except when it’s used just to enable laziness. What do you think about the commercial? Comment below and subscribe for daily notifications of my posts.
Most of us probably swap out our old ones for new ones every few years. No I’m not talking about spouses! Get your head out of the gutter and I’m sorry your stepmom is 5 years younger than you 🥴. New phones are always being plopped in front of us, teasing us with their screen sizes and camera lenses and chip powers. What you bought last year is already outdated and even though I love my Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (I’ve had it for a few months now), I’m sure something faster and sleeker will come along soon. The same goes for iPhones, too. Your iPhone 17 will be old by this time next year… oops, the 17 max pro double plus just dropped. Heyo.
But seriously, the 17 is fresh on the market and I’m sure it’s a good smartphone. But as far as hardware– and as the kids say, aesthetics– goes, there are a couple of things about it that I can’t bear to look at. Here’s the phone…
Looks fine, right? Multiple cameras. Standard rectangular shape. That raised plateau (where the camera lenses are) everyone is doing now. I don’t love that trend but there’s something else even worse. See if you can pick up what bothers me by watching this ad for another sneaky cool phone, the Xiaomi 17 Pro.
Did you catch it? It’s why I’ll never look at the iPhone 17 the same way again. Instead of a boring and bare plateau on the back, Xiaomi made the entire area a viewing screen. How do you like them apples, Apple??
All I can ever think now is why WOULDN’T there be a screen there? And then I look at the iPhone 17 again and it just looks like an imitation of the Xiaomi instead of the other way around. But there’s still something else… a visual part of the phone that irritates me so much. It’s this:
I cannot stand the flash and LiDAR scanner sensor on the right side of the phone. Why is there so much separation between those two features and from there, so much empty space towards the 3 camera lenses? It reminds me of the back of the Hyundai Santa Fe. Cool ride from the front but the back is hideous… it’s like the Pontiac Aztek was resurrected from the car cemetery to haunt us again. This part of the iPhone 17 is such a frustrating design choice. But even if it looked more cohesive or they grouped everything together like previous iPhone designs, the Xiaomi integration of a screen still wins and it’s not even up for debate. I mean, unless you want to comment below and we can chat on why the iPhone 17s are boring, Xiaomi 17s are not, and why the S25s beat them all.
There’s one thing that’s a proven, trusted, indisputable fact: SKYRIZI has the best jingle of any commercial on television. Don’t believe me? Watch the ad below and see if it doesn’t get stuck in your head for the rest of the day. But beware, there’s a disturbing amount of smiling, too. Also, I’m kinda sorry if I set you up to have the song stuck in your head all day when you have other important things to do. I’m also sorry that this commercial is going to keep you up at night.
I’ve had to call out Publix for this too: No one smiles that much. If you can, watch the SKYRIZI ad again and see if you can find anyone NOT smiling. It’s super weird and downright creepy. In fact, there’s a whole horror film franchise called Smile and that should inform us for all we need to know about smiling too much. What starts as a warm, friendly gesture turns sinister the moment a smile lingers… and lingers… and lingers. Here’s the ad reimagined as a horror movie. So basically I just changed the music and let it play.
Are you disturbed by this SKYRIZI commercial? Chime in below…
Last night Florida State lost in an upset to the unranked Virginia Cavaliers. With the way the college football playoffs are set up, Seminole fans shouldn’t give up yet. After all, they’re already having a better season than last year. Going in to last night’s matchup, Florida State was #8 and that particular spot in the top 10 is becoming a curse. And it might even be worse than the Dr. Pepper curse! We’re in the 5th week of college football and the #8 team has lost 3 of 5 weeks, worse than any other spot in the top 10.
week 1: (unranked) Florida State defeats (#8) Alabama
week 3: (#16) Texas A&M defeats (#8) Notre Dame
week 5: (unranked) Virginia defeats (#8) Florida State
In the new rankings, teams that could be #8 are… Texas A&M, Texas, or Indiana. Each of those teams have potentially tough opponents in their following matches which could manifest another loss for the 8th ranked team.
Texas A&M vs. MS State (currently undefeated).
Texas at Florida. (I know it’s Florida and they stink, but it’s in the swamp)
Indiana at Oregon (currently #6).
The upset alert hasn’t been switched off yet this season. This is what college football is all about, isn’t it?
This is just a little fun I had with the title of Kamala’s new book called “107 Days.” The book is a look into her experience running an abbreviated presidential campaign in which she took the mantle handed to her from Joe Biden (she wasn’t democratically nominated but that’s neither here nor there 🥴) to go up against the Republican candidate, Donald Trump. My mind wandered a bit and wondered what the book would be called if it were turned into a screenplay.
I have the book reserved at a local library so as soon as I read it (I’m like 43rd in line), I’ll probably write up a reaction post for it. Although I’m not sure why I’m even contemplating the idea of reading a story about how someone lost at something. It’s like the Kansas City Chiefs putting out a book about how they lost the Super Bowl. And we care because………??
Out of the Wilderness 